


Trio for Time Travellers

by GrumpyJenn



Series: Friends Through Time and Space [11]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s04e12 The Stolen Earth, Episode: s04e13 Journey's End, Heather Alexander, Season/Series 07, Sexual Content, Songfic, Spoilers, T-Plus to M-Minus, Timey-Wimey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-18
Updated: 2012-09-25
Packaged: 2017-11-14 12:22:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/515192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrumpyJenn/pseuds/GrumpyJenn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>We saw what happened in London and Cardiff while Ten and his Companions dealt with Davros and his Dalek masters. But what about the rest of the U.K.?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tomorrow I Leave for Battle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TygerTyger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TygerTyger/gifts).



These are three of my favorite folk songs, as performed by the incomparable Heather Alexander. They’re what I hear in my head during certain _Who_ scenes, especially the second. I’ll leave it to the reader to guess which scenes.

[Tomorrow](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtQdtAEEgMI) [I](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtQdtAEEgMI) [Leave](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtQdtAEEgMI) [for](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtQdtAEEgMI) [Battle](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtQdtAEEgMI)

 

“I’m sorry, my love, but I _must_ go.” They were standing in the console room, and River was struggling to refrain from shouting at them.

“But it’s in my past, I’ve done this; there shouldn’t be spoilers for me. And you shouldn’t have to fight Daleks on your own, River, it’s...” The Doctor shuddered. He’d always hated Daleks but after the Asylum, well...

River straightened the Doctor’s bowtie. “Sweetie, I would take you with me - we both know how to stay out of our former selves’ way - but... this will _hurt_ you. Too many lost friends are involved in this one. And you wouldn’t be able to resist getting into the thick of the action, which would rewrite history... you know it would, and we can’t risk it, or...” She shivered lightly and the Doctor reached up to squeeze her hand. “I’ll only be helping the fight here on Earth.”

“I’ll look after her, Doc,” put in Jack, and River wisely kept her mouth shut; she was irritated with them for trying to protect her, not stupid. And when Jack slid a glance at her she realised he was humouring the Doctor more than he was being a macho git. Jack - being what he was - would look after her only as he would any other competent fighter who hadn’t his resurrective advantage.

The Doctor was pouting in that way that only this regeneration could get away with - on any other face the expression would look stupid, but on this one it just looked adorable. “But I want to go with you... I wouldn’t get in the way. I... mmph!” The explanation was muffled by her lips as she kissed him, and then he relaxed into the kiss, his hands flailing about until they settled into her hair.

“My love,” she murmured into his mouth, “I _want_ to take you with me, but they... Sweetie, it’s _them_... they wouldn’t want you hurt either. They love you. Please, _please_ stay here with Sexy and Evie and Isrea. Please.” His shoulders slumped and he broke the kiss, wrapped his arms around her and held on tight.

“Donna...” he whispered, and River nodded.

“And Sarah Jane and Rose and the other you, the human meta-crisis. Please, my love.”

“How may Isrea help?” asked the reptilian woman standing by Jack and Evie. “Earth is a planet that Isrea loves, and Isrea would like to help.”

Evie smiled up at her. “Doctor, perhaps you and I and Isrea could start a... a field hospital to help anyone injured. There was a wave of agreement that washed over them all and she smiled again. “Thank you, Sexy, glad you liked it.”

“Oh well, if you’re _all_ conspiring to keep me here, even Sexy, I’d better humour you,” the Doctor said sulkily, still pouting but with that little glint in his eye that meant he was starting to enjoy this. He hated to admit it, but he sort of _liked_ his friends’ concern for him; at least he did when it was these particular friends. And yeah, the part of him he couldn’t even acknowledge was relieved not to have to deal with the Daleks again... or the terrible guilt he felt whenever he thought of Donna.

“Thank you, my love,” whispered River, and nestled her curly head under his chin.

Jack put an arm around Evie, and one around Isrea, and quietly steered them into his room, to give River and her Doctor a chance to be alone together.

\---/--- 

“River...” The Doctor’s voice broke as he looked at his wife standing stiffly across their bedroom on the TARDIS. _She looks so small and defenceless_ , he thought, although he knew better; River Song was anything but defenceless.

“My love, I _know_ ,” she cried. “Don’t you think I know? But I _can’t_ let you go. Your tenth self and his companions are off defeating _him_ \- Davros - and his Dalek masters, England’s covered by those companions and Harriet Jones, and Wales by Torchwood Three. Ireland and Scotland need our help, and _you_ can’t do it because you’d change history.” She crossed to him and he could see that the tears he heard in her voice showed in her eyes as well. “I’m really the only one who can do this; there are... complications in this time and place, because of... spoilers. I’m sorry.”

She just stood there with tears in her eyes, and he was reminded of how she had looked at their first wedding, young and terrified, and his hearts melted. He couldn’t be angry, not with her, not about this, because he’d already been there, done his part in it. So he held out his arms to her, and buried his nose into her hair when she stepped forward into them. “Oh, my River,” he murmured, “what have I ever done to deserve this? Deserve you?”

River pulled back to look at him. “Don’t you know?” He shook his head and she let out a sound that was half laugh, half sob. “You can’t bear to hear children cry. You loved and forgave me even as I killed you... twice. You’re lovely and sweet and arrogant and brilliant and kind and you’re hot when you’re clever... and you’re always clever.” Her hand slid round the back of his neck and she kissed him.

“River,” he said almost conversationally into her mouth. “Are you going to tell me the real reason you don’t want me along?” River pulled away, avoiding his gaze.

“I did.”

“No. You didn’t.” His voice was soft, but it was a sorrowful voice, not the angry one that presaged the Oncoming Storm. “River. Look at me.” She shook her head. “ _Look at me_. Why don’t you want me with you for this? And don’t...” he cut her off before she could say it. “... _don’t_ tell me ‘spoilers’. I was _there_ , River, I know what happened and what _will_ happen there, tomorrow. What are you so afraid to tell me?” He grasped her chin gently but firmly and tipped her face up so he could see her eyes. “River. Tell me.”

“I...” River choked a bit and took a deep but ragged breath. “I have it on very good authority that if you go with me, you will die. And I... I will never come to be the River Song you know.” She held up one hand as he started to say something and he subsided. “I know that makes me a coward, but I--”

“It doesn’t!” The Doctor did interrupt this time. “It makes you human.” He took her face between his hands, fingers buried in her curls, and kissed her hard on the lips. “And you’ve no idea how much I cherish the humany bits of you, my River,” he said close to her ear, his breath tickling her skin.

River sighed as he nibbled at the spot just behind her ear and her pulse sped up when he began to use his tongue, licking and sucking down her jaw until he fastened his lips against hers. “My... my love,” River gasped, as his hands began to slowly unwind themselves from her hair, fingers streaking with sudden haste down her back to grip her hips. When he pulled her hips into him, she gasped again, and he gave a sort of strangled moan as she wrapped her legs around his waist. Oh bless, she loved it when he was like this; she loved him in all his moods really, but when he was like this, completely focussed on _her_ and on their loving, oh _bless_. She moaned his name as he walked them to the bed, and laughed when he fell on top of her in trying to lay her down on it. Her giggles changed into a mutual groan of pleasure as he tried to scramble off her, but succeeded in grinding their bodies together instead. And then it was all hands and lips and buttons popping off and zips breaking as they frantically undressed each other.

Finally they lay nude together across the TARDIS-blue coverlet of their bed, bodies slowing now, stretching the loving out as only Time Lords could, stroking and caressing with hands and mouths until at last she pushed him gently onto his back and impaled herself on him. And then she began to move, slowly at first, but faster and faster until they crashed into a climax together, and then eventually they lay still, each listening to the sound of the other’s hearts until they slept.

\---/---

The Doctor watched the dim light play along River’s golden skin as she breathed the even breaths of the deeply asleep. He twisted one of her curls around his finger and let it go, watching it spring back into place and sighing heavily. He would stay, he decided, not because she was afraid for him; if he’d stayed in the TARDIS every time someone feared for his life he’d never get anything done. But he would stay here in the old girl, with Evie and Isrea, because River was afraid she would never come to be River Song. How that could be he didn’t know, and he would ask her when she woke, though he was not at all sure she would tell him.

He was afraid for her, his lovely River Song. Oh, he knew that Jack would look after her - and Jack was the best possible person to do so - but he was still afraid. No, it wasn’t her time, but time could be re-written, and that thought was terrifying.

She stirred, stretched, and pulled him down for a kiss, all without opening her eyes, and he murmured her name into her mouth. Her mouth curved into a smile under his. “I can hear you thinking, my love. You want to know, don’t you?” He nodded. She took a deep breath. “I know I won’t change history doing this because I _didn’t,_ ” she said simply, opening her eyes and sitting up to look at him, and waited until realisation dawned on his face.

“Mels,” he said, and she nodded.

“Yes. Mels,” she said, sadly, as though talking of someone who had died. He supposed that in some ways she was doing just that. “You see, my love? She would kill you on sight, and having killed you, would have no reason to go to Berlin. And then I would never be _me_ , time would be re-written.” Her voice got very low. “I don’t think I could bear that.”

“How is it that you didn’t remember, well... _you_ , when you regenerated into River Song?”

River laughed a short and bitter laugh. “You’ve seen what the Silence can do to a person’s memory, my love. All Mels remembered was a woman with curly hair and a man with blue eyes.”

“Jack.”

“Yes. Although I didn’t realise it until he said he’d go with me.” River’s green eyes were troubled, and the Doctor’s hearts ached for her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and lay back against the cushions, bringing him with her. “Sweetie? Will you love me one more time before I have to go? Please?”

“Always, my River. Always and completely.”


	2. March of Cambreadth

[March](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFi7bWkyRpA) [of](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFi7bWkyRpA) [Cambreadth](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFi7bWkyRpA)

 

“Why Scotland exactly?” the Doctor wanted to know, and River shrugged.

“It’s where we’re needed.”

“What about Ireland? Lovely place, Ireland. Green, you know, like my sonic...” The Doctor pulled the sonic out of his pocket and caressed it briefly. “Vowels too, great vowels, the Irish have. Though some think the Welsh vowels are rou... what?” River was looking at him with that expression of fond exasperation she used so well. “Right, well... so what about Ireland then?”

“Torchwood Four’s shown up again,” said Jack as he walked into the console room between Evie and Isrea. “They’ll take Ireland.” River gaped at him.

“But Torchwood Four was lost, Jack,” she said faintly, and he nodded.

“And it will be again. After this mess is cleared up.” River blinked once and then shrugged again.

“Right,” she said, “Ready, Jack?” When he nodded she said, “I need to forewarn you. There is a woman we’ll be meeting; she’ll help us with the Daleks. Jack... I need you to be very careful with her; you could change history if she becomes... overly interested.” Jack stared at her. Was River Song - of all people - _blushing_? He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen such a thing. The Doctor now, he blushed, and Amy, and even Rory now and then, but _River_?

The Doctor cleared his throat. “I’m sure Jack er... understands that he should only um say hello as other people say hello, not as Jack says hel... oh...” He trailed off as they all looked at him, and Evie giggled.

“Doctor,” she said fondly, “Why don’t you just come out and say it? You and River don’t want Jack to do anything sexual with this girl. He’s a sex machine right enough,” She gave Jack’s arse a little squeeze and he smiled down at her. “But he’s an honourable man. He won’t do anything untoward.” The squeeze turned into a caress. “Will you, lover?”

“I trust _you_ , Jack,” said River, as earnestly as Jack had ever heard her say anything. “I don’t - I _can’t_ \- trust her. I... oh to hell with it.” She muttered this last and took a deep breath. “She is _me_. That me, the younger me, Mels, in her late teens, and we need her help for this. I vaguely remember bits of it from when I _was_ her. You see?” Jack and Evie nodded, but Isrea just looked perplexed, and they all understood that she’d gotten lost in the personal pronouns; her people’s speech didn’t have them. “Evie and the Doctor can explain it to you, Isrea,” River said, and smiled at the reptilian woman without baring her teeth.

Isrea nodded human-fashion. “The Doctor and Evie can explain while those ones and Isrea create a hospital for the wounded,” she said in her serious and stilted way. “Evie will make the words clear to Isrea.” Evie squeezed her wrist and rubbed the base of the feathers there affectionately.

“Right then,” said River. “We’d better get to it, I suppose.” She took a deep breath and looked at Jack. “Ready?” At his short nod she un-holstered her pulse pistol and backed up against the wall next to the exterior door. He began to count down on his fingers - three, two, one - and then he opened the door and River leaned out gun first, looking around for Daleks. She nodded at him and stepped out, and he followed, covering her. The doors closed and the Doctor sighed.

“Right, well...” He looked lost for a moment and Evie pulled him into a hug.

“They’ll be all right, Doc,” she said softly, unconsciously using Jack’s nickname for him. “River’s more than competent and Jack is... Jack.” She squeezed and let him go, but he still looked worried. Evie sighed. “It’s her, isn’t it? The younger River. Bit of a wild card, yeah?” He nodded and leaned forward to kiss her forehead.

“Wild... is definitely the word to describe Mels Zucker.”

\---/---

 _This is bollocks,_ Mels thought as she tied her hair back, crouching behind a bush at the top of the hill and watching those damn metal things mow down random people in the street. _Alien pepper pots for god’s sake, with plungers and ray-guns. Must be_ his _work - the one I have to..._ Mels shook her head. No, these things didn’t look like they would be friendly to _anyone_. Not even _him_.

Somewhere in the back of her mind Mels knew that they - Amy’s Raggedy Doctor and Kovarian’s evil Time Lord - were the same person, but her programming didn’t allow her to think about that overmuch. Part of her was half in love with Amy’s Raggedy Doctor, but the part of her that was trained to kill... that part loathed the man, feared him, and thought of him as a bogeyman in the night. And these... giant salt cellars would be laughable if it wasn’t for their shrill voices and their freaking ray-guns that made people glow from the inside out and then... just die. Mels shuddered.

“Scarier than they look, aren’t they?” said a warm American voice behind her, and she froze for an instant before she turned to look up at a very handsome man with blue eyes. She stood up and turned the rest of the way to face him. _Very_ handsome. Mels licked her lips.

“Well...” she drew the word out in a purr. “Aren’t _you_ the pretty one.” She was reaching up to touch his jaw when there was the sound of a throat clearing, and a woman with the most amazing hair Mels had ever seen stepped out from behind him.

“Yes, he is, Mels,” the woman said, “Very pretty. But taken.” Mels’ mouth dropped open; how did this woman know her name? It wasn’t like she was well-known in this tiny village in Scotland of all places, and the woman with all the hair seemed... familiar somehow. And that was when Mels began to panic. There was something about these two, the pretty man and the tough-looking woman, something that made them seem both familiar and terrifying. They gave her the same feeling she got in the back of her mind when she... when she... _can’t think about that now, can’t remember, there’s someth--_

The man grabbed her by the arm and hauled her around and toward him before she could react, her back against his chest and his hand over her mouth. “Don’t scream,” he whispered into her ear, and nodded at the metal creatures below. “They’ll hear if you scream.” Mels nodded and he removed his hand from her mouth. “Good. We’re here to help, Mels.”

“But how do you know my name?” Mels whispered back furiously, her eyes darting from one to the other. “Are you...” she shuddered again, “One of _her_ people? Kovar--”

“Mels. Melody.” The woman’s voice was gentle in a way that Kovarian’s never was, and she sounded close to tears. “We are here to help you. I...” her voice cracked and the man let go of Mels’ wrist as he turned to the woman, who shook her head at him. “I’m all right, Jack, truly,” she said, though her voice was still choked. She held out a hand to Mels. “I’m Harmony Rivers; I’m a... friend of Rory Williams, and this is my friend Jack...”

“Hart,” Jack said firmly, and smiled at Mels. “And we don’t know why you’re here or how you got here. Where’s Amy? And Rory?”

Mels didn’t know what to think. They knew her name, they claimed to be friends of Rory’s but didn’t know where he was, and for some reason, she felt they could be trusted. She couldn’t say _why_ , just that in spite of how... _odd_... they felt, she knew they would do their best to keep her safe. “Rory stayed at the hospital; he felt he was needed there. Amy... they sent us up here to Amy’s other aunt, they said it would be safer than Leadworth, and Amy’s there, in their cellar, the old bomb shelter left from the War. I... I sneaked out; I need to _do_ something, not just sit safely in a _cell_...” She trailed off and stared at the woman, who now had tears in her eyes. “What?” Mels said belligerently, and the woman - Harmony - smiled.

It was a beautiful smile.

“Nothing,” Harmony said, “It’s just that I know exactly how you feel.” She took a deep breath. “Now, if we’re going to keep Amy safe - and that’s more important than you know - we’ve got to get rid of those Daleks. That’s what they’re called you know, Daleks, and they’re far _far_ more deadly than they look.” She stopped and patted Jack’s hand where it had gone white-knuckled, and her smile turned bloodthirsty. “So... how many of them d’you think we can make _die_?”

Mels knew her answering grin was just as bloodthirsty. “Let’s find out,” she nearly snarled, and accepted the - was it a ray-gun? - that Jack offered her.

And then they charged down the hill and slaughtered the Daleks.

 _It’s only natural how well we work together,_ thought River as she and Mels stood back to back and shot Daleks with unerring precision, _insofar as anything trained into us by the Silence can be called_ natural _. I wonder how she feels about it. I don’t remember..._

Mels was in her element, decimating alien scum with a blaster as though she and Harmony were a single person; they fought that well together, and Jack was laying down covering fire. She thought she saw him get hit once and go down, but he bounced back up a few breaths later so it must have been deliberate. And she spun and twisted and shot and once she kicked a Dalek in its gunstick, which appeared to jam it and it exploded in a shower of sparks, and she _gloried_ in the murderous and almost sexual charge of a close-up kill.

And then suddenly it was over. Just the smoking remains of the Daleks littering the street and scores of frightened people beginning to peer out from behind doors and trees. Mels and Harmony each held out a hand to Jack; he accepted both and hauled himself up, and that was when Mels realised that Harmony was fully as strong as she herself was, and she stared wide-eyed at the older woman. “You... you’re--”

“Hush, Mels,” Harmony interrupted. “Don’t talk about it, don’t think about it; they’ll pull it from you. It’s best if you just forget.” Mels nodded hesitantly. _At least now I know why they seem so familiar,_ she thought, _they’re time-travellers._.. but Harmony was continuing, talking to Jack now. “We have to go _right now_ , Jack, it’s important.” She nodded without looking at the hillside where they had been standing before the fight and Mels turned to look...

...and when she turned back to talk to... someone; she couldn't remember who... she saw a ransacked village street full of giant alien pepper pots, and heard a whooshing sound fading on the wind.


	3. Courage Knows no Bounds

[Courage](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YgNvnBvXCI) [Knows](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YgNvnBvXCI) [no](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YgNvnBvXCI) [Bounds](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YgNvnBvXCI)

 

“Well,” said River rather blankly as the TARDIS dematerialised, “That was... different. Odd...” She trailed off and the Doctor looked up from the console with concern, flipped a lever without looking, and loped across the glass floor to enfold her in his arms.

“Are you all right, my River?” he murmured into her hair, and she nodded, then pulled back to look at him.

“She was so _young_ , my love. So young and so scared... scared of the Daleks, of the Silence, of... of _me_.” Tears thickened River’s voice but did not fall, and the Doctor drew her back into his embrace as Jack spoke up.

“And very brave, River,” he said seriously. “Don’t forget how very brave she was. She fought the Daleks, defied the Silence, decided to trust us. Such a brave little girl. Don’t ever forget how very brave she was.” He took a deep breath as River nodded, then continued on a lighter note “Where to next, Doc?”

“Cardiff,” said the Doctor. “The old girl could use a full tank of Rift energy.” He kissed the top of River’s head and let go of her, then trailed his hand down her arm to hold her hand. He turned them both to the doors as the TARDIS landed and grinned as Jack shouted for Evie to get a move on; they were going home. Both River and the Doctor watched fondly as Jack flung open the TARDIS doors and stepped out, then they all stopped dead in their tracks as they saw who stood just outside the perception filter.

_Ianto_

Jack tried to call his name, but it stuck in his throat and the next thing he knew he was being pulled bodily back into the TARDIS, River’s hand over his mouth and one arm around his waist, the Doctor’s arms around him, both of them speaking, babbling into his ears... _no Jack, no you can’t, you’ll change history, please Jack, no_... and as Evie entered the console room, she was hit by a wave of misery and pain. She gathered her scattered wits and sent a mental inquiry to the TARDIS.

_(blueandbrownboy mourns brokenlovelyboy, riftenergy wrongtime)_

_Oh bollocks,_ Evie thought as the TARDIS doors shut and the three of them - Jack, River, and the Doctor - ended up in a tangle of limbs and hoarse sobs on the glass floor of the console room.

“Oh Jack,” the Doctor was saying, “I am so s--”

The noise from deep in Jack’s throat that interrupted the Doctor could only be considered a snarl, and then he ground out, “I know you are, Doctor but I don’t. Fucking. Care right now. And you, River, _don’t say it_. I _know_ you understand, who better. But I...” he faltered and scrubbed at his face with his hands, then slumped against the closed doors of the TARDIS and drew his knees up against his chest as the Doctor and River sat down hard on the steps facing him. Evie and Isrea stood frozen on either side of the steps.

“I know you’re right,” Jack finally said in a hoarse voice. His cheeks were dry now but there were still tears standing in his blue eyes. “I know I can’t go back. But I just... I just wanted to tell him I love him.” River’s face was a mask of sympathetic misery and the Doctor closed his eyes against the pain in Jack’s voice as he continued. “I never t-told him. Even as he lay dying in my arms, _begging_ me not to forget him, I never told him.” Evie made a low noise in her throat and Isrea’s crest began to flare with distress. “He never knew how I felt about him, and I...”

“Of course he knew, Jack,” said Evie softly. “Of course he did.”

Jack turned his head to look at her. “How can you be sure?” He sounded tired now, Evie thought, and... defeated. Not like him at all. He’d have to see it for himself.

“Does the Doctor love you, Jack?” she asked, and he answered in the affirmative without even thinking. The Doctor’s eyes were open now, but he didn’t visibly react to the question or the answer, and Evie wondered how he would take what she said next. “So, he loves you. How do you know?”

Jack shook his head. “I just do.”

“How?” she persisted. “He doesn’t _say_ it, not even to River or the TARDIS, and he loves them more than anything in the universe.” The Doctor and River looked at each other and he squeezed her hand. “You’re not telepathic, Jack, and your empathy is untrained, so _how do you know_?” Jack shook his head again. “Jack,” Evie said, walking to him and crouching next to him so she could put a comforting hand on his cheek. “You know because of a million little things, body language, facial expressions, shared experiences. And your face, my sweet Jack, your face is _far_ easier and more open for a human to read than the Doctor’s is.” She wiped a fallen tear from his skin. “You see? Your Ianto could surely see your love for him; he’d have to be blind not to.”

“Jack...” River started, but her voice broke and she tried again. “Jack, we never meant...” She trailed off as Evie helped Jack to his feet.

“I know, River,” Jack said in a tired voice. “I know you didn’t.” He looked suddenly old, River thought, though his hair was dark and thick as ever, his skin as unlined. “Do you mind if I just go to my room?” he asked in that tired, dead voice, and River nodded.

Evie reached up to kiss Jack. “You go on, lover,” she said softly. “Someone will look in on you shortly.” He stopped in his tracks and looked down at her.

“I don’t want to be alone,” he whispered, and Evie thought the expression of loss on his face might break her heart. She kissed him on the lips and murmured something so quietly into his ear that even the Doctor couldn’t hear it, then pulled away and gave Jack a gentle little shove in the direction of the room they shared on the TARDIS. She watched him until he disappeared around the corner and then turned to River and the Doctor, still sitting together on the stairs.

“Will you go to him, Doctor?” Evie asked. “He needs you.” The Doctor considered her briefly and nodded once.

“If you’ll tell me why you won’t go to him yourself, Evie,” he said in a gentle voice. _Poor little human_ , he thought, _so sad and so fierce in her love for my old friend Jack. How long has it been for her since they met?_ He counted up in his head and was a little surprised to realise that it had been just under two decades in her personal timeline; that was a _long_ time for a human. He was sure she had a valid reason for preferring not to go to her lover herself, but he wanted to know what that reason was. It would give him further insight into how her mind worked. And there was never not a good time for that.

When Evie began to speak, her voice was so high and faint that a normal human couldn’t have heard it, and the Doctor regretted upsetting her further by asking. “I... I’m not what Jack needs right now,” she said slowly, obviously fighting back tears. “He doesn’t need me; I’d only be a reminder of the...” Evie closed her eyes but kept speaking in that high and agonised voice. “He doesn’t need a reminder of how short-lived most of the people he l-loves are. He’s... he needs _you_ , and I would just h-hurt him.” She gave a choking little sob and the Doctor reached up to draw her down between himself and River on the step, then beckoned to Isrea.

“There now, Evie, such a brave little human,” he murmured into her ear as River stroked her back and Isrea encircled her wrists with iridescently scaled fingers.. “I’ll look after him - _we’ll_ look after him, Sexy Thing and me. River, Isrea, see to her.” He stood and loped awkwardly off after Jack.

“I’m sorry,” Evie sobbed miserably, over and over, as River and Isrea held her. The Haemogoth priestess rubbed absently at Evie’s wrists and crooned wordlessly, and River Song whispered reassurances into Evie’s ear... _it’s all right Evie, he’ll be okay, just love him and be loved by him, the Doctor and Sexy’ll make it all right again._.. And at last the sobs subsided and Evie lay cradled in the arms of her oldest friend, and she slept.

\---/---

_(sexy mourns brokenlovelyboy)_

“Thanks, sweetheart,” Jack said quietly. “I do too.” He looked up at the tap on the doorframe. “Hi.”

“Hi,” said the Doctor, not meeting Jack’s eyes. “I brought the fish custard.”

 _Ah,_ thought Jack, _it’s to be one of those conversations is it?_ “Because this outliving them all thing is pretty much crap?” He managed a half-smile. “I’m guessing that’s why Evie sent you; she thinks I need a long-lifer’s perspective?” At the Doctor’s cautious nod, Jack sighed. “Yeah, well, Evie knows her stuff... I hope she’s not too worried.”

The Doctor finally looked into Jack’s face. “She’s sobbing like a baby. Well...” he reconsidered, and put a hand on Jack’s arm to stop him leaping up and going to Evie. “She’s sobbing like a human badly in need of catharsis... humany wumany...” He sniffled and dashed a hand over his own eyes. “River and Isrea have her in hand, Jack; she’ll be all right.” He waited until Jack relaxed and then let go of the immortal’s arm to sling his arm companionably around Jack’s shoulders. “Fish finger?” he offered.

\---/---

_I love you, Evie..._

It was Jack’s voice, and Evie smiled before she opened her eyes to see his dark blue ones inches from her face. “Hello, lover,” she said in a low tone, and shivered as the hand at her jaw moved to cup a rounded breast. “Well, aren’t you feeling much better...” She arched into his touch and sighed as he stroked her sensitive skin.

He might live forever, he thought, and although she would not, there was no sense in mourning her before she was gone, not when they could be together _now_. And so Jack made slow and gentle love to Evie, wanting this time with her to last as long as it could, safe in the embrace of the big blue box, and thanked his lucky stars that he had her.

After it was over and they lay entwined, she put one hand up to his temple and said the words directly into his mind.

_And I love you._

 


End file.
